The House of Schwarzenberg is a German (Franconian) and Czech (Bohemian) aristocratic family, and it was one of the most prominent European noble houses. The Schwarzenbergs are members of the German nobility and Czech nobility, and they held the rank of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The family belongs to the high nobility and traces its roots to the Lords of Seinsheim during the Middle Ages. The current head of the family is Karel, 12th Prince of Schwarzenberg, a Czech politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. The family owns properties and lands across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland. The family is traditionally based in Bohemia (Czech Republic), where its ancestral seat is. History Origin The family stems from the Lords of Seinsheim, who had established themselves in Franconia during the Middle Ages. A branch of the Seinsheim family (the non-Schwarzenberg portion died out in 1958) was created when Erkinger of Seinsheim acquired the Franconian territory of Schwarzenberg and the castle of Schwarzenberg in Scheinfeld during the early part of the 15th century. He was then granted the title of Freiherr (Baron) of Schwarzenberg in 1429. At that time, the family also possessed some fiefdoms in Bohemia. Ascent and expansion In 1599, the Schwarzenbergs were elevated to Imperial Counts, and the family was later raised to princely status in 1670. In 1623 came the Styrian Dominion of Murau into the Schwarzenberg family due to the marriage of Count Georg Ludwig of Schwarzenberg (1586–1646) with Anna Neumann von Wasserleonburg (1535–1623). Furthermore, the House of Schwarzenberg acquired extensive land holdings in Bohemia in 1661 through a marriage alliance with the House of Eggenberg. In the 1670s, the Schwarzenbergs established their primary seat in Bohemia and, until 1918, their main residence was in Český Krumlov, Bohemia (now in Czech Republic). Schwarzenberg/Sulz family unification Due to the absence of a male heir and his only daughter Maria Anna married to Prince Ferdinand of Schwarzenberg, Johann Ludwig II Count of Sulz proposed a family unification between the Counts of Sulz and Princes of Schwarzenberg at the Imperial Court. His request was granted, which not only transferred all legal and property rights upon his death in 1687 from the Sulz family to the Schwarzenberg family, but assured that the Sulz family continues in the Schwarzenberg family. The visible affirmation of this bond was the merging of the coat